


The Sharing of Sofas

by fabrega



Series: Citadel Sleepover [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: M/M, Mass Effect 3, Mass Effect 3: Citadel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-03
Updated: 2014-04-03
Packaged: 2018-01-17 23:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1406983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabrega/pseuds/fabrega
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There's no place left to sleep," Kaidan says, frowning. He drops onto the sofa next to Cortez, a little bit closer than it looks like either of them was expecting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sharing of Sofas

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Alex for the initial read.

The party is winding down, and it looks to Cortez like everybody is staking out places to crash for the night. After the dancing, he'd landed on one of the two sofas in the living room, bantering with Vega about something inconsequential in that easy way that Vega will probably never admit is basically flirting. Now, Steve shifts across his sofa several times, testing the cushions for anything strange or obviously-uncomfortable; Vega takes no such precautions, just fluffs one of the throw pillows and flops over sideways onto his own sofa.

"Good night, Esteban." Vega's voice is half-muffled by the pillow, but Steve can still hear the affection there. It makes him smile.

"Sleep well, Mr. Vega," Steve replies.

(Vega had gotten drunk--like, _really_ drunk--with Steve one night, back before the Normandy, and had informed him philosophically that if he had just been a little less straight, they'd probably be dating, right? Steve had smiled then too; straight guys always assume that they're just automatically your type.)

Steve doesn't lie down, not yet, just watches as Shepard's other friends make their ways to their various resting spots. Miranda makes a beeline for the downstairs guest bedroom; Shepard and Garrus head upstairs, leaning heavily against each other; Liara heads upstairs as well, but takes the other set of stairs; and Steve is pretty sure he can hear Tali moaning pitifully on the floor of the bathroom.

"Looks like I'm moving too slow," a voice says from across the room. Cortez looks up and sees Major Alenko weaving his way this direction from the far side of the room. "Weaving" is the right word; they've all had a lot to drink (he's still regretting whatever the hell that rotgut was that he'd done shots of with Joker) but the Major seems to be handling his liquor a little less well than some of the others had.

Cortez thinks it's pretty cute, actually, and that's not just Joker's rotgut talking.

"There's no place left to sleep," Major Alenko continues with an exaggerated frown. He drops onto the sofa next to Steve, a little bit closer than it looks like either of them was expecting. Steve's first thought is: _is the second human Spectre trying to poach my sofa?_ His second thought is: _christ, the second human Spectre smells good_. Then he and the rotgut wonder vaguely what Major Alenko thought he needed all that cologne for. There are rumors that the Major had a little bit of a thing for Commander Shepard--which, if that's the case, Steve is more than willing to give this thing a wide berth for all of the reasons, no matter how good the Major smells.

All these things in mind, Steve leans back carefully and tries to make small talk. "Enjoy the party, Major?" he asks. It's a question he's pretty sure he knows the answer to already--a man who's not enjoying himself might drink like Major Alenko had, but he certainly wouldn't dance like that.

Major Alenko nods emphatically. "It's nice to get a break from saving the galaxy," he says. Even he seems surprised by the amount of swagger in his voice, and he back-pedals almost immediately. "I mean, it's great to see everyone, and nice to kick back and relax with friends--Shepard's friends, but, yeah. Maybe they're my friends? I've never really been good at that--friends, I mean." He stops, closes his eyes in what Steve can only read as embarrassment, then repeats: "I mean--"

"It's tough, making friends on active duty," Steve cuts in, and Major Alenko looks grateful for it. "Tougher still when there's a war on, and probably even worse than that when you outrank everybody around you."

"It's true," Major Alenko says with a philosophical-sounding sigh. "I've never _really_ been good at it, but it... it's worse now. I mean, I _have_ friends, I've always _had_ friends, but-- I mean, I really only know about half of these people." He gestures around the apartment with his half-full beer bottle. "I served with some of them on the first Normandy, and with you guys on the current Normandy, but there's a whole group of Shepard's friends from those years when she was dead and then she was working with Cerberus that I just...don't know. It's my own fault, too, for not trusting her then." He sinks back into the sofa, looking glum.

"You're doing better than I am at party guests," Steve counters. "You've at least got history with most of these people; I'm just the shuttle pilot."

"Hey, c'mon now. How would Shepard get anywhere without you?" Major Alenko chides. Yeah, they've definitely hit the philosophical portion of the evening. "Joker can't just drop the Mako off everywhere she needs to be. That would be highly impractical a lot of places."

"Taking the Mako _anywhere_ is impractical," Steve laughs. "I'm not saying that what I do isn't important, but it doesn't exactly impress guys in bars." 

It's a figure of speech--party notwithstanding, they're in the middle of a war, one that pretty recently left him a widower, so he hasn't really picked up a lot of guys in bars, using that line or not--but Major Alenko's face goes all weird for a second, an emotion that Steve doesn't quite recognize clouding his expression. Disgust? Terror? General weirdness about somebody using Commander Shepard (who Steve is now pretty sure the Major has a crush on, why else would he be this nervous and weird) as a prop to pick up men in bars? In a second, though, the weird look is gone, replaced with something like determination, and Major Alenko finishes what's left in his beer bottle in one long gulp. Then he looks back at Steve. "Was there more beer? I should probably have more beer."

Steve is not sure if there is more beer. He _is_ pretty sure that the stupid, nice-smelling, drunk, handsome Spectre sitting next to him doesn't need any more--especially if it is, as it sounds like it might be, beer consumed in reaction to something. Reactionary beers are never a good idea for anybody. Besides, more beer for Major Alenko means Cortez will drink too, to be polite and sociable, and the alcohol he consumed earlier in the evening is already making this difficult. He's not thinking about what stupid things he might do with any more. Still, he says brightly, "I'll go check!" and heads for the kitchen. Once there, he makes a show of checking the fridge for beer--there are at least ten more bottles in there, because Shepard had really gone overboard for this party. He shakes his head in what he hopes looks like disappointment, retrieves two empty glasses from the kitchen cabinets, fills them both with water, and returns to the sofa. "No beer," he says to Major Alenko (which, without a verb, is not technically a lie) and hands him one of the glasses of water. "Drink up. You don't want to be hung over tomorrow."

"I'm good at headaches," Major Alenko protests, looking back and forth between the glass and Steve.

"No offense, Major, but that's not really a skill," Steve says with a laugh, finishing the second glass of water himself.

Major Alenko sighs again, looks right up at him this time. "Not Major Alenko. Just Kaidan."

Steve does not know what to do with this declaration. Well, the rotgut knows what it thinks, but Steve is less sure. His head is a jumble of conflicting thoughts, the loudest of which is: _I'm going to let this guy have the sofa and I'm going to like it, aren't I. You're a goddamn idiot, Cortez._

From the other sofa, Vega groans and rolls over slightly, using the movement to clamp one of the throw pillows over his face. "C'mon, Esteban, either kick him off your sofa or take this shit outside or just kiss him already, I don't _care_ ; just do it more quietly, okay? Some of us are trying to sleep."

If he wasn't able to process things correctly before, he _definitely_ isn't able to now. He manages something teasing like "I don't like your tone, Mr. Vega," but Vega's voice repeats in his head like some kind of echo chamber as he tries to process it-- _just kiss him, just kiss him already_ \--and next to him, Kaidan says, "Okay, sorry," and leans over and kisses Steve full on the mouth.

He'd swear he hears Vega chuckling a little under that pillow, but he hardly cares. He kisses Kaidan back, kisses him again, tries hard not to smile so he can keep kissing him. Then he pulls away; he can't keep the grin from his face, even as he says quietly, "You're drunk, Kaidan." It's a little cliché, but he likes the way the name sounds when he says it aloud.

"So what?" Kaidan replies. "So are you. And I liked you when I was sober, if that makes any difference."

The time Kaidan had spent in the shuttle bay, seemingly trying awkwardly to be friends with Vega, suddenly made a lot more sense. Somehow he'd always within eyeshot of Steve when Steve had looked--and why wouldn't Steve look? Kaidan was as much his type as Vega was not, even when he hadn't been actively interested in anybody. The memory makes him smile that much harder. "Y'know," he says, his voice teasingly thoughtful, "There's probably room for both of us on this sofa, if we try."

Kaidan finishes his glass of water and nods. "I'm willing to try if you are."

Steve likes the sound of that.

***

Steve and Kaidan are still negotiating space up against each other, trying to figure out the logistics of this thing, when there's a noise from the downstairs guest bedroom. They both turn to look, just in time to see Kasumi come literally flying out of the room. She lands on her feet, because of course she does, takes a moment to straighten herself out, and then turns the rest of the apartment. She doesn't say anything about Steve and Kaidan and their sofa, just smiles a pleased smile at them and heads off into the apartment to find somewhere to sleep.


End file.
